Established in 1912, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary stretches across southern Alberta. The diocese is led by Bishop William T. McGrattan. Our mission of “Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.” drives everything we do to spread the Gospel of Christ to Southern Alberta. Charitable B/N: 10790-9939-RR0076

Our Diocese is a thriving Body of Faithful Catholics with events happening all around Southern Alberta designed to help those in need, build our knowledge of the faith and sometimes to simply provide some much needed fun! Check out the links on this page to find out what’s going on.

A diocese, from the Greek term of dioikeîn meaning to keep house, administer, govern, exists to ensure the Faithful within its boundaries have access to everything they need to practice their Faith in a meaningful way. The Diocese of Calgary does this by providing various ministries and offices to serve the 450,000 Catholics in Southern Alberta.

At the core of our Catholicism is a deep and abiding Faith in Christ. We hope these pages will provide useful and informative resources to you whether you are new to the concept of Christianity or a lifetime member of the Church.

Our Faith is lived out in our day to day lives. The navigation of this journey can often require support, education or simple encouragement. These pages will show you the way the Diocese is ready to walk alongside you as we journey through life together.

Has one of our Diocesan programs impacted your life and inspired you to contribute? Do you wish to contribute to a current disaster relief project? Are you planning an estate and need some information about including your parish or the Diocese in your will? These pages will help you in your mission to give. Thank you for your support.

Pope Francis and Marian Devotion

Over the past few years, we have seen how Pope Francis demonstrates a strong Marian devotion. Anyone who has known former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio understands well that his Marian devotion, far from being a recent manifestation, is a long-established devotion and one that is much in line with his predecessors.

On his very first meeting with his brother cardinals in the Clementine Hall on March 15, Pope Francis stressed his relationship with Mary and the role he ascribes to Jesus’ mother. He said: “I entrust my ministry and your ministry to the powerful intercession of Mary, our Mother, Mother of the Church. Under her maternal gaze may each one of you walk happy and docile on your path, listening to the voice of her divine Son, strengthening your unity, persevering in your common prayer and bearing witness to the true faith in the constant presence of the Lord.”

Forty days after his election, Pope Francis went to St. Mary Major to lead the recitation of the Rosary on the first Saturday of May, the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and to take official possession of the Basilica as he had done for the Basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Paul Outside the Walls. “Mary is the mother,” said the Pope during the recitation of the Rosary, “and a mother’s main concern is the health of her children … Our Lady guards our health … helps us grow, face life and be free.”

On the eve of his departure for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for World Youth Day 2013, Pope Francis visited once again the Basilica of St. Mary Major and entrusted World Youth Day 2013 to Mary’s care. During his unforgettable experience in Brazil he made a side-trip to the renown shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in central Brazil.

In his homily at the Aparecida Shrine on July 24, 2013 Pope Francis said: “When the Church looks for Jesus, she always knocks at his Mother’s door and asks: “Show us Jesus.” It is from Mary that the Church learns true discipleship. That is why the Church always goes out on mission in the footsteps of Mary.… Dear friends, we have come to knock at the door of Mary’s house. She has opened it for us, she has let us in and she shows us her Son. Now she asks us to “do whatever he tells you” [Jn 2:5]. Yes, dear Mother, we are committed to doing whatever Jesus tells us! And we will do it with hope, trusting in God’s surprises and full of joy.”

It is also interesting that Pope Francis has introduced the world to a little-known Marian devotion entitled Mary, Undoer of Knots. He has a very special devotion to Mary under this title that goes all the way back to the second century. In one autobiography of the Pope that I read it mentions that as a young Jesuit, Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was completing his graduate studies in Germany, he was captivated by a Bavarian painting of Holy Mary, Our Lady Undoer of Knots that he saw in a Church in Augsburg. Bergoglio obtained a copy of the painting and brought it back with him to Argentina where he helped spread the devotion among his people. While this devotion is relatively unknown in our part of the world, it is known and loved in Argentina.

Later as auxiliary bishop and then archbishop of Buenos Aires, he encouraged the veneration of Our Lady Undoer of Knots whose devotion originated from a painting executed by the German artist Johann Georg Schidtner around 1700 and located in St. Peter am Perlach Church in Augsburg, Germany. In the painting the Virgin is shown in the act of untying a knot on a long white ribbon while crushing the serpent, which stands for evil.

The theology of Mary untying knots goes back to the second century – less than one hundred years after the death of the Apostles. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons wrote “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.” The understanding of Mary’s universal mediation and her subordinate role to Christ in human salvation is beautifully summed up in this quote from St. Irenaeus.

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has invited the faithful to entrust to Mary “the journey of faith, the desires of our heart, our needs and the needs of the whole world, especially of those who hunger and thirst for justice and peace.” He goes on to state that her “example of humility and openness to God’s will helps us to transmit our faith in a joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all, without reservation.”

In this same spirit as we mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Canada, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops have invited the faithful to consecrate their lives and of the entire country of Canada to Mary. We will celebrate this event in a Liturgy and with devotions at St. Mary’s Cathedral on July 1. I invite all within our Diocese to invoke Mary, the “Holy Mother of God,” to guide our country in the ways of faith in order to promote, peace, truth, justice and reconciliation.

Prayer to Mary, Undoer of Knots

Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love,
Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need,
Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children
because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy
that exists in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes
upon me and see the snarl of knots that exist in my life.
You know very well how desperate I am, my pain,
and how I am bound by these knots.
Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted
the undoing of the knots in the lives of his children,
I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life.
No one, not even the Evil One himself,
can take it away from your precious care.
In your hands there is no knot that cannot be undone.
Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power
with Your Son and My Liberator, Jesus,
take into your hands today this knot.